Qinghai 2016 Week 4 Highlights

On Sun. 24 July, Elaine Du and I drove our partner Jan-Erik Nilsén to Xining Caojiabao Airport, completing our second week with the Beijing-based Swedish birder and fourth in Qinghai. This trip started on 26 June with Michael Grunwell and his old friend Mark Waters. Since then, Elaine and I have noted 168 species of bird, driven 5800 km, and birded six of the eight prefectures of this province, which is thrice the size of the United Kingdom. I have been attacked by dogs at Kanda Nunnery, met a Living Buddha at a Buddhist art school, scoped the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter in the clear Tibetan Plateau air, and photographed Tibetan Lynx.

After four weeks birding at high altitude without a day off, and after nearly collapsing in exhaustion Sunday night in our hotel room here in Xining, Elaine and I made the only logical choice: We have decided to extend our Qinghai trip three more weeks, into August. You can say we’re crazy about Qinghai, or you can say we’re just crazy.

Elaine and I relaxing at an Italian restaurant in Xining, 23 July 2016. After non-stop, high-altitude birding for a month, we were ready to kick back. (Craig Brelsford)

My wife and I are currently resting up here in the capital of Qinghai, the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. Trading our birder’s hat for a tourist’s, we have taken in the sights of Xining, a city that has long been a crossroads of Han, Hui, and Tibetan culture. Dongguan Mosque dates from 1380, Ta’er Monastery from 1583. Western culture has arrived: On Monday night Elaine and I shared a steak at an Italian restaurant, and I drank a Hoegaarden.

Map of Qinghai with the eight prefectural-level divisions in white. Last week, our team covered the 800 km from Yushu/Jiegu to Xining (both marked in black). (Wikipedia/Craig Brelsford)

This montage shows two individuals, one (1, 2) a male Great Rosefinch, the other (3-5) a male Streaked Rosefinch. The birds were photographed 22 July within a few hundred meters of each other in the semi-desert west of Dulan in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai. The elevation here is 3340 m. Note the more strongly streaked back of the Streaked Rosefinch, the darker flight feathers, and the smaller white spots on its breast. The two species are deceptively similar, a situation neatly summed up by the Chinese name for Streaked Rosefinch: ‘pseudo-Great Rosefinch’ (拟大朱雀). (Craig Brelsford)

2 males found near Streaked Rosefinch; no defense of territory, no streaking on back, larger white spots on breast, browner wings.

Mongolian Five-toed Jerboa, near Maduo-Machali (34.911354, 98.211208), 19 July. This photo, taken by the light of the headlights of our rented Mitsubishi Pajero, serves as an introduction to this unusual rodent but doesn’t nearly do it justice. To fully appreciate the jerboa, one needs to see the lightning-fast movements of what the Chinese call ‘Five-toe Jump-mouse’ (五指跳鼠). (Craig Brelsford)

6 noted after dark 19 July at elev. 4250 m on steppe west of Maduo-Machali (34.911354, 98.211208). Although we found jerboas along paved roads, we had more success along dirt roads, where traffic was less. A particularly good dirt road is 13.8 km from Maduo-Machali on the X731. It can be accessed from the X731 at 34.976612, 98.100317. The dirt road is on the right-hand side of the X731 for drivers coming from Maduo-Machali.

Bactrian Camel Camelus bactrianus
ca. 1000 in rangeland west of Chaka. Presence of this huge herd on 23 July probably was the factor dooming Jan-Erik’s chances of another look at Henderson’s Ground Jay.

Tibetan Wild Ass Equus kiang
166 on 21 July around Gouhua, a site near the border of Guoluo and Haixi prefectures and first covered by Jan-Erik, Brian Ivon Jones, and me in July 2014. This site remains the single-richest spot for Tibetan Wild Ass that I have seen.

Red Fox Vulpes vulpes
3 (1 on 22 July at Przevalski’s Site, 2 on 18 July near Maduo-Machali).

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Craig Brelsford

Craig Brelsford lived in Shanghai from 2007 to 2018. When he departed China, Craig was the top-ranked eBirder in the country, having noted 932 species, as well as the top-ranked eBirder in Shanghai (323 species). A 1993 graduate of the University of Florida, Craig was an award-winning newspaper editor in the United States for 10 years. In 2002, Craig earned a master's in business administration from the University of Liege in Belgium. Craig lives in Debary, Florida with his wife, Elaine, and their son, Tiny.
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